Five fellows from across the African continent will participate in the 12-month study programme and earn a postgraduate degree from UWC on its completion
LEFT TO RIGHT: Ana Raquel de Jesus Machava, Mona Eshraghi Hakimi, Evaan Jason Ferreira, Pauline Buhlebenkosi Ndhlovu, and Bulelwa Lomusa Kunene. Photographer: Mikhailia Peterson
This past February, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) welcomed five fellows from across the African continent to participate in the second year of the Zeitz MOCAA & University of the Western Cape (UWC) Museum Fellowship Programme. The pan-African fellowship programme aims to contribute towards a redefinition of curatorial practice and art history scholarship on contemporary art discourse and museology from the continent and is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The 2023 cohort includes Mozambican architect and urban planner Ana Raquel de Jesus Machava; fine art graduates Bulelwa Lomusa Kunene from Eswatini and Evaan Jason Ferreira from South Africa; educator Mona Eshraghi Hakimi from Malawi; and visual anthropology graduate Pauline Buhlebenkosi Ndhlovu from Namibia.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome the 2023 fellows to Zeitz MOCAA and are thrilled to once again be joining hands with UWC to offer this programme,” says Koyo Kouoh, Executive Director and Chief Curator at Zeitz MOCAA. “This collaboration highlights the importance of promoting narratives that build artistic and curatorial communities and that will go on to lead discourses on pertinent issues. The university’s history is rooted in political liberation and its vision and mission align with that of Zeitz MOCAA.”
The programme endeavours to foster knowledge production around curatorial practice, arts administration and heritage management by exposing fellows to museum practice facilitated by Zeitz MOCAA senior staff. While obtaining work experience within the museum’s departments of Curatorial, Collection Management, Art Education and Institutional Advancement, fellows are further trained in contemporary art scholarship with a rigorous academic syllabus that incorporates museums, heritage and contemporary visual theory at the University of the Western Cape’s Department of History and Centre for Humanities Research (CHR). On completion of the 12-month programme, the fellows will achieve a BA Honours degree from the University.
“The first-hand experience and insight into the inner workings of a world-class museum dialogue with the dynamic theoretical frameworks that underpin an innovative new curriculum at the University,” adds Prof Rory Bester, Associate Professor in the Department of History at UWC. “It is a privilege to be able to merge scholarship on contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora with the experience of museum practice, and contribute to the next generation of skilled professionals from the continent.”
For more information, please visit the University of the Western Cape and Zeitz MOCAA.
